The solar developer SPCG Plc plans to construct a total of 34 solar farms with a combined capacity of more than 200 megawatts by 2013, compared with just five projects now, to become the leading solar power developer in Thailand and Asean.
SPCG is now in the process of raising funds, and has filed for Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approval to sell 60 million new shares in the stock market.
The outcome should be clear by November or the end of 2011 at the latest, said Wandee Khunchornyakong, SPCG’s managing director.
SPCG has hired Kasikorn Securities as a financial adviser for the share sale.
Nattharin Talthong, the executive chairman of Kasikorn Securities, said earlier that SPCG expected to raise one billion baht in equity financing this year, and another 2 billion in 2012.
Each of the 34 projects the company plans would have a capacity of 6 MW.
“While the Thai stock market and market sentiment are always affected by global economic turmoil, the price of our electricity is not affected by volatility in the global economy,” said Ms Wandee.
“Therefore we have a stable income, which is something that investors would take notice of and invest in us.”
She said the stability of SPCG’s income was enhanced by the fact that contracts have been signed for all of the 34 solar farms to sell power to the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA).
The group yesterday signed a borrowing deal worth of 890 million baht with IFC, the finance arm of the World Bank Group, Kasikornbank, Bank of Ayudhya and Thanachart Bank for its solar farms in Nakhon Ratchasima and Loei with 6 MW capacity each.
SPCG now operates five projects with a combined capacity of 30 megawatts. They include the two for which the loans were signed. The others are in Nakhon Ratchasima, Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom.
SPCG is the first company in Thailand to receive funding from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), a multi-donor facility administered by the World Bank that promotes scaled-up financing of low-carbon technologies with significant potential for greenhouse gas emissions savings.
Sergio Pimenta, IFC’s director for East Asia and the Pacific, said that investments through IFC and the Clean Technology Fund in the plants would help catalyse private-sector investment in renewable energy, specifically solar, in Thailand.
Mr Pimenta said the first investment of the CTF in Thailand’s renewable energy sector would help demonstrate the viability of lending to small-scale solar projects, and attract more financing from the banking sector.
SPCG shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 14.80 baht, down 20 satang, in trade worth 712,000 baht.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/260309/spcg-seeking-solar-leadership-in-asean
